Method of treating car-wheels.



R. C. TOTTEN.

METHOD OF TREATING OAR WHEELS.

APPLIOATION FILED JUNE 10, 1909.

1,016,457., Patented Feb. 6, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

FIG.-1

4 F I /3 /6 6 3 22 /5 /z WRTNESSES. V INVENTOR 2 a Q m /MZ 71 v. M

1,016,457., Patented Feb. 6, 1912.

Fig.4 7 25 I a @W I FIG.6 47 Q WITNESSES. INVENTOR. j wfiw 0W C W & W M

R. C. TOTTEN.

METHOD OF TREATING GAR WHEELS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 10, 1909.

R. 0. TOTTEN.

METHOD OF TREATING GAR WHEELS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 10I 1909.

1,016,457, Patented- Feb. 6, 1912.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3.

WITNESSES. I j. @WJ/M Bonner c. TOTTEN, or PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

METHOD OF TREATING CAR-WHEELS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 6, 1912.-

Application filed IunclO, 1909. Serial No. 501,424.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, ROBERT C."ToTTEN,a resident of Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Methods of Treating Car-Wheels; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to a method of treating newly made car wheels.

Chilled car wheels being molded with the.

tread in contact with the iron mold are subjected to a cooling medium as soon as the melted iron strikes'the surface of the chill. As the metal at the hub is thicker than that at therim and web portions of the wheel, the rim begins to cool first when taken out of'the iron mold, while the thicker hub-portion remains comparatively hot. The cool;- ing action accordingly takes place unevenly and the wheel is thrown upon a strain due to the fact that at some point between the hub and rim of the wheel the rim-portion with its adjoining web-portion becomes cold and consequently the hub-portion in cooling shrinks away, leaving a line of shrinkage which is developed in use when the action of the brake shoe heats up the rim or tread. This difficulty is increased by the fact that after casting the wheel is carried from the casting'floor several hundred feet before itis deposited in the annealing pit and is exposed during this interval, which may be several minutes, to the cooling eifeot of the atmosphere. There is a further loss of heat due to its own radiation. The rim continues to get colder and colder so that when it is placed in the annealing oven it has already een injured by such shrinkage'strains.

The object of my invention is to provide a method by which much of this irregularity in cooling of such castings may be overcome and the injurious shrinkage strains avoided.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a sectional view of the protecting ring showing the wheel inclosed thereby; Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the upper portion of the' protecting ring removed; Fig. 3 is a view of the lower portion of the protecting ring removed; Fig. L is a view of the wheels in.

the annealing pit; Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view of a wheel casting plant.

I will describe my improved method in connection with the ordinary style of casting plant inwhich the numerals 2 indica e the cupolas, 3 the casting floor, 4 the track leading to the annealing pits 5. The cars ortrucks 6 are adapted to travel on the track 4. -It 15 customary to have the annealing 'pits at each side of the casting floor and the wheels are carried from the casting floor and deposited on the trucks 6 to be carried to either one of the annealing pits. By my method the wheels 7, as they are cast, are carried to the trucks and are placed upon thebottom portion 8 of the protecting shells or casings 9. These bottom portions 8 may be formed of sheet metal of suitable thickness made in two parts 11 and 12, the flange portions 13 beingsecured together in any suitable manner. The plate or sheet 12 projects beyond the outer rim of the sheet 11 and has the up-turned flange 14 which, with the flange 15 of the sheet 11, forms the annular groove 16. The'bottom portion 8 of the protecting casing, when formed in this manner, has a hollow air space between its walls which acts as a non-conductor. upper portion 17 of the casing 9 may be likewise formed of sheet metal of proper thickness, the'two sheets 18 and 19 being united at 20 and 21. The inner contour of the combined portions 8 and 17 of the casing corresponds to the contour of the car wheel and each portion'of said casing is provided with the central opening 22 to allow for the hub portion of the wheel being exposed.

When, as above stated, the wheel'is deposited on the lower portion of the casing supported-by the truck, the upper portion 17 is then adjusted into place with its rim fitting down within the annular groove 16 of the lower section. In this manner I provide each wheel as it comes from the casting floor with a protecting casing which protects the rim and web portions of the wheel from the cooling effect of the atmosphere,

The

from the trucks by suitable crane mechav nism and deposited in the annealing pits.-'

The hub portions of the wheels are separated from each other by spacing rings 24:

which prevent the casings from resting on each other.. When the annealing pit has I been filled the top 25 is adjusted in position vand said top 25 is provided with the air vent 26. This air vent extends to the hub portion of the car wheel and permits of the escape of the heat as it rises from the hub portion during the process of annealing. If

desired the lower section 8 ofthe covering may be left on the truck When said truck reaches the annealing pit andionly the upper section covering the Wheel be lowered into the pit. The wheel is thus protected against 3 the atmosphere in its transfer from the mold taken from the flasks on the casting floor are carried directly to the trucks and inclosed in the manner described and so far as the tread and web portions of the wheel are concerned all radiation is prevented, due

to the hollow casing forming a good nonconductor of heat. It is also protected from exposure to cold drafts of air on its way to the annealing pit which, owing to various delays in the handling of the product, some times occupies many minutes. The hub or hotter portion being exposed the cooling effect begins from the center of the wheel and when the wheel-is inserted into the annealing pit the air vent forming communi-. cation with the outside air the hub portion still continues to cool more rapidly than the rim or web portions. The effect of this is to relieve the car wheel of shrinkage strains by allowing the inner portion to cool more rapidly and permitting the outer portions to shrink onto that which is already set in largely the same manner as a wagon tire is shrunk on a wooden wheel.

It is apparentthat other forms of appa-- ratus may be used for carrying out my im--' proved method, but such changes or modifications in no way affect the scope of my invention.

. It is further apparent that my invention is not in any way limited to the cooling of the chilled Iron car wheels, but is' equally applicable to forged steel or rolled steel car wheels requiring annealing after being forged or rolled;

. What I claim is: p

1. The method of preventing the uneven shrinkage in chilled'car wheels, consisting in protecting the rim and web portions of the wheel from the atmosphere after its removal from the mold while still hot, exposing the hub portion to the atmosphere, and transferring the said wheellunder such conditions to the annealing pit.

2. The method of preventing the uneven shrinkage in chilled car wheels, consisting in inclosing the rim and web portions of the wheel with a protecting covering after the,openings in said hub portions resting oneuponthe other.

4; The method of preventing the uneven shrinkage in chilled car wheels, consisting in inclosing the outer portions of the wheel with a protecting covering afterremoval from the mold while hot, leaving the central portion exposed, depositing the wheel so inclosed within a .closed annealing pit and-carryingofi the heat from the central .portion of said wheel to the atmosphere.

In testimony whereof, I the said ROBERT C. To'rrnN have hereunto set my hand.

, ROBERT C. TOTTEN. Witnesses:

' J. GARFIELD Housron',

J. F. WILL. 

